Afterglow (Brotherhood of the Blade Trilogy #2) (3 page)

What Griff had learned was that after a feeding, Gabby’s red blood cells filled up with iron and they were robust. He was puzzled and certainly diligent in seeking a cure, or at least a treatment that would bring her to some stability in her red blood cell count, instead of highs and lows.

Griff and Lucas spoke of CBCs and other medical terms with Gabby, so that she might understand her own physiology and emotions, as he researched deeper.

He gave her vitamins, such as folic acid and iron, but she vomited them up and offered apologies. It was certainly true that the smell of vampire vomit could clear a room for hours. Still, it was more than anyone else knew about vampire physiology and Griff was really into the medical research, trying to find a way to save Gabrielle, and maybe, others…

I tried not to imagine my daughter as a vampire. It was unthinkable, but we all supported Griff’s research on Gabby, her most of all. Who knew when the next one of us would have to assimilate to this condition?

We got helpful intel from Gabrielle about Vlad’s clan society, but it came with a price, as we expected it would. In return for the intel, Gabrielle asked us to go after Vlad and kill him. We promised we would, when we were ready.

The problem was, the more we learned about him, the less ready we were to take him on as an opponent. Even all of us combined seemed to be no match for Vlad in the computer simulations we ran.

Gabby volunteered to wear a locked Plexiglas mask with breathing holes, so she couldn’t bite us, but she offered to train with us again. She offered the opportunity to train against a real vampire, instead of each other. We were all intrigued and excited.

However, after a meeting, without her, where we briefly discussed this topic, Lucas said that we should vote on this decision. Everyone else voted yes—even Daphne, who was the most negative vampire hunter of us—and I voted no, against them all.

“
We cannot get complacent about security,” I argued. I felt like one of those scenes from the movie,
12 Angry Men
. I continued, “Yes, she is Gabrielle, who was once one of us, but now, she is a vampire, and not an ordinary vampire, either. Let’s look at this from a logical standpoint, instead of an emotional one.”

“
Are you saying she might betray us?” Lucas asked.

“
Hell, yes. I don’t want to kill her. Let’s get that straight. However, there’s a thin line she’s walking every moment of every day. She might not
want
to betray us, but suppose she is somehow under Vlad’s mind control of some sort? Or, what if she is programmed to kill us at a specific time? No telling what sort of drugs or hypnosis or torture he used on her. Griff, your input, please?” I asked.

Griff replied, “I’m her doctor and she has told me things that happened to her, but she has the right to patient confidentiality.”

“What?” I said and pounded my fist on the table and looked at our leader. “Come on! How many lives are at stake, Lucas? Patient privacy?
Really?
”

Ambra tilted her head. “I’m changing my vote to no.”

I breathed easier. “Thank you. Anyone else?”

“
More discussion, please,” Daphne said. She looked at Lucas for more info.

“
All right, all right,” Griff acquiesced. “With her consent, I hypnotized her several times while we Skyped. No drugs. I am not a psychiatrist, but yeah, she was violated in ways that I cannot describe because you will never forget it and it will haunt you until the day you die, as it haunts her—she begs for a merciful release from the emotional fallout. And frankly, if you knew the details, you wouldn’t blame her for wanting to die. About every thirty seconds, even under hypnosis, she has flashbacks of her torture. It is the worst case of post-traumatic stress disorder that I have ever seen.”

I sighed heavily. “Throw us a bone, Griff. Or Lucas?”

Griff was the one who replied. “Okay, I will tell you one thing that he did to her. He shot her, over and over, with a gun, trying to make her feed from a blood concubine.”

I thought I was going to be sick. A strangled cry came from Ambra’s throat.

“Just what exactly is a blood concubine?” I asked, the hair rising on the back of my neck.

Lucas replied, “A human captive, a blood slave who is allowed to live if she also serves Vlad’s other personal needs, including sexual—”

“—That’s it. He’s a dead vampire walking,” I threatened. “Silver to the heart, kill on sight. When do we leave to kill this motherf—?”

Daphne waved her hand at me. “Hothead, cool your jets. Yes, of course we’re going to take out Vlad. But back up. A gun, Griff? A gun?” she said. “Since when have vampires
ever
used guns?”

“
I was going to tell you all tomorrow,” Lucas interrupted. “I’m trying to figure out how to order guns. Legally, of course.”

I stood up. “It’s Switzerland. No automatic weapons are allowed and if they are semi-automatics, they have to have a special license,” I said. “Do we really want to deal with the government here and draw attention to ourselves and our work?”

We all looked at Lucas.

“
Okay, here’s the deal. We kind of need guns. Under hypnosis, Gabby told Griff, who told me that Vlad sometimes uses guns to disable human opponents and then, as they lay dying from gunshot wounds, he moves in for the kill and the feeding.”

“
Appalling,” Daphne said, shuddering. “If that’s true, we are all sitting ducks and need to be wearing flak jackets.”

“
So noted,” said Nariko, our clothing designer. “I’ll get right on it.”

“
Thank you, Nariko.” Lucas continued, “His lieutenants, or henchmen, whatever they are, are similarly armed with firearms and using them the same way.”

I spoke. “In my history of vampires versus vampire hunters, the only vampire I knew of who carried a gun was Samantha Moon. She had one when she came to see us.”

“What?” Ambra said. “How did she get it on the plane?”

“
I don’t know, but her use of it at our castle was for defense and not for offense. And, though I smelled gun oil on Samantha, I never saw her piece. I just knew it was there, in case we betrayed her. It was her security blanket. She never had to use it, but she could have, at any time.”

“
Geez,” Lucas said. He looked at me, highly pissed off. “Why didn’t you say anything?”

“
Because we
trust
her. I understand Sam carrying one as a detective, but I can’t even fathom why Vlad uses firearms. As one of the most powerful vampires that we know of, his use of firearms and body armor over his heart, puts a whole new spin on our methods of vampire hunting.”

“
Maybe we’re looking at this wrong,” Ambra said. “Maybe Vlad is weakening and getting slow in his old age and needs the gun as an equalizer.”

“
You’re such an optimist,” I said. “He is stronger than ever.”

“
The other alternative is that Vlad has just gotten hooked on high tech and is lazy about chasing his food.” Daphne pointed at me. “And don’t call me a pessimist.”

“
How about a realist?” I replied.

“
There you go,” Daphne quipped.

Lucas said, “I’m going to call for another vote. Shall Gabrielle return to training with us?”

Everyone at the table looked at each other in dismay.

“
One more thing before we vote,” I said. “If we allow Gabrielle to train with us, she is going to want to go on missions with us, and that puts her in extreme danger. We can’t risk them getting their hands on her ever again. She is truly the vampire who knows too much.”

Lucas nodded at the group. “Okay, vote call. Should Gabrielle Dubois be allowed to train with us?”

Everyone said no. I was relieved.

Ambra Skyped with her and broke the news.

It was hard news for Gabby to take. She had so looked forward to getting out of her bunker and being around us again.

Ambra came back with a new request from Gabby: “When she finishes her opera, she wants to perform it for us in the great hall. After she feeds, of course. On a full tummy.”

Already feeling bad that she would not be allowed to train with us anymore, we all acquiesced to Gabby’s request to perform her opera for us in the great hall. Ambra passed on the news of the permission to perform it for us upstairs, much to the delight of Gabrielle.

It was a small consolation for Gabby, to be allowed to sing for us all, and we thought we would be able to protect her and ourselves, outside the sound studio, for an hour or two. After her feeding.

We couldn’t have guessed it then, what repercussions this decision would bring on “concert night” at Blackstone Castle.

Chapter Three

As we trained harder and harder, in order to face Vlad, our most dangerous adversary yet, a whole new spin emerged in vampire hunting, which had never before included disarming someone with a gun when none of us had one. Lucas took my comment to heart that legally ordering guns would bring unwelcome attention from the Swiss government about our operation. And there was no way we would do it illegally. None of us wanted to go to prison.

“
How would you even explain to the Swiss government why you need eight handguns?” I said to Lucas one night when we were down in the main kitchen, having a heart-to-heart talk over fondue, the pot over a Sterno flame between us, our long-stemmed forks loaded up and steaming coffee in mugs at our elbows. I twirled the hot, stringy cheese over a bread cube and blew on it to cool it before I popped it whole into my mouth.

“
I can’t get over the cheese in this country. It’s like sex. Not that I have had any. Go figure. Come to Switzerland and live the life of a monk.”

“
That won’t last long. It seems a beautiful vampire hunter is very interested in you.”

I smiled. “You think?”

“Just give her time. She is very analytical and pushes down that emotion in her professional life, and in her personal life, well, that carries over.”

“
As it should, I suppose,” I replied. “Any rules against fraternization, like in the military?”

“
No. None. Just be discreet.”

I nodded, suddenly realizing I had tacit permission to woo Ambra, if I decided to.

Lucas smiled as we stuffed our faces. “The cheese is made from our own dairy cows. Daphne insists that everything be this organic, local food.”

“
Not a small effort to keep milk cows at a castle in the Alps,” I said. “I’m sorry, where were we?” I asked, chewing and swallowing and loading up another bread cube with melted cheese.

“
Girlfriends and guns,” Lucas said.

“
Let’s talk about the guns.”

“
Right. You have a good head on your shoulders, as the Americans say,” Lucas replied, taking a sip of his coffee and then sugaring it heavily. “I’m realizing just how much trouble the acquisition of guns could bring upon our operation.”

“
I’m not going to lie to you, Lucas. Something like guns could even bring us down as an organization. We should stick to the weapons that fly under the government radar. Hand-held blades and the scythe necklaces—brilliant by the way, because they look like fine art—those are our main weapons.”

“
That’s the way I planned it,” he said. “The boot sheaths for the blades make our pure silver weapons portable in most venues and only certain types of metal detectors even sense them because it is usually metal alloys that set off detectors. We only use pure silver. Not alloys.”

“
I learn something every day from you,” I said.

“
And I from you. Our hands are free when they need to be and the addition of alternate weapons, ones that fit each person’s skills and talents as individuals really make the difference. We are one of the few organizations that teaches our warriors to fight with a weapon in each hand.”

“
Yeah, my left hand has learned so much since I started training. And Lucas, I love how you scoped out my previous talent with the crossbow and arrows—which are not so portable, as you know—and translated my expertise into silver darts that fit in a quiver in my other boot. I mean, we can walk in any restaurant and nobody knows that we are armed to the teeth. We can’t do that with guns.”

“
So, you are really against getting the guns, even though the vampires have them?” Lucas said, resigned to my argument.

“
Guns have their place, but are the legal hassles worth the risk? Here’s my take on it: If we are well-trained in stealth, the vampires will never see or hear us coming and they will never get a shot off to disable us before they feed on us.”

“
They can hear our heartbeats, just like the wolves can. Gabrielle’s hearing test showed that her hearing is nearly equal to a wolf’s.”